1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a small-sized refrigerator, and more particularly a small-sized refrigerator having improved evaporator and defrosted water drain pan to allow smooth convection of cold air produced at the evaporator, resulting in more uniform distribution of a temperature in a refrigerating chamber and a reduction in power consumption.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Generally, a small-sized refrigerator does not comprise divided freezing and refrigerating chambers, but only a refrigerating chamber, in which there are provided an evaporator and a defrosted water drain pan disposed below the evaporator to receive defrosted water dropping thereform.
Such a small-sized refrigerator according to the prior art comprises, as shown in FIGS. 1 to 4 of the accompanying drawings, a body 21 having a refrigerating chamber 22 provided therein, an evaporator 23 disposed at the upper side of the refrigerating chamber, a defrosted water drain pan 24 of a tray shape mounted below the evaporator to prevent the defrosted water from dropping to the lower portion of the chamber, a plurality of vertically spaced shelves 25 disposed transversely below the drain pan to support foodstuffs, a door 26 mounted in the front of the body 21 to prevent the cold air in the refrigerating chamber from flowing out, a compressor 27 disposed outside of the lower portion of the body to feed a refrigerant to the evaporator 23, and a temperature sensor (including a temperature control function) 28 mounted in the refrigerating chamber to turn on and off the compressor 27 depending upon the temperature in the chamber.
With this construction, the foodstuffs put on the shelves 25 in the refrigerating chamber 22 can be refrigerated and freshly preserved by cold air circulating in the chamber through a natural convection phenomenon. The cold air is produced by the action of the refrigerant compressed by the energized compressor 27 and introduced into the evaporator 23, and distributed in the chamber through the natural convection. At this time, when the temperature in the refrigerating chamber drops below a set temperature, the temperature sensor 28 disposed in the chamber detects it and stops the operation of the compressor 27. Thereafter, when the temperature rises again above the set temperature, the operation of the compressor is resumed through the sensing operation of the temperature sensor.
The foregoing describes one cycle of the operation of the refrigerator. Therefore, as long as the electric power is supplied to the refrigerator, "ON" and "OFF" of the compressor 27 is continually repeated in response to the sensing operation of the temperature sensor 28 depending upon temperature variations from the set temperature.
During the operation of the refrigerator, ice is usually formed on the outer surface of the evaporator 23 due to the cold air flow produced around the evaporator. With continued use of the refrigerator, the ice is excessively formed on the evaporator, to thereby reduce the refrigerating capacity of the refrigerator, so that there is a need to melt the ice by temporarily turning off the refrigerator. Therefore, in order to prevent the water produced by the deicing operation from dropping downwardly to the lower portion of the refrigerating chamber, the defrosted water drain pan 24 is usually mounted below the evaporator 23.
This prior small-sized refrigerator however has a drawback in that since the evaporator 23 for producing the cold air is of a L-shape and secured to the body 21 by means of fastening members 29 provided on the interior of the body, as shown in FIGS. 1 and 3, a cold air producing area is restricted to one side of the refrigerating chamber 22, so that there is a very excessive temperature difference between the side of the evaporator 23 and the area opposite to the side. Further, in the prior refrigerator, since the naturally convective flow of the cold air originating from the evaporator is intercepted by the defrosted water drain pan 24 disposed below the evaporator and passes through only the gap between the body 21 and the drain pan, smooth convection of the cold air may not be achieved and a long operating time of the compressor 27 is required to maintain the average temperature (usually 3.degree. C.) in the refrigerating chamber, so that power consumption is increased.